Resignation of Émilise Lessard-Therrien | Nadeau-Dubois and his “clique” riddled with criticism

Faced with the surprise resignation of Émilise Lessard-Therrien from her position as female co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire (QS), Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois assumes his “share of responsibility in this failure”. He admits having failed to make the party’s unique two-headed leadership model work, in the context where the former member for Rouyn-Noranda–Témiscamingue, in office for only five months, points the finger at the “small team of professionals.” .s tight-knit “that surrounds the parliamentary leader, which former employees describe as being a hermetic “clique”.

(Quebec and Granby) “I was scolded or made to feel guilty”

It was a real clap of thunder that woke up Parliamentary Hill on Monday, as Émilise Lessard-Therrien resigned from her position as female co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire (QS), although it had been won by a narrow margin in the second round of voting last November.

“Just four months was enough to exhaust me. Completely. I went on sick leave at the end of March, both knees on the ground, momentum slowed down,” she wrote on Facebook, pointing to “a small team of professionals woven tightly around the carrier. male speech”, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, who made her feel “very alone” and with whom she had “trouble finding (her) space”.

In her testimony, the 32-year-old former MP recounted being “scolded or made to feel guilty for speaking sincerely (and) for giving opinions or following my intuition”, in addition to having been invalidated when she named her needs. “I started to get scared. Fear of speaking, fear of not being heard, recognized, understood. (…) For these reasons, I fell into “survival” mode in my party,” she said.

“The different vision that I proposed encountered an organizational blockage, within a party which was created to do politics differently. And there the meaning was gone. Giving me a nasty blow behind the knees as I passed so that I fell,” said M^me Lessard-Therrien.

Nadeau-Dubois explains

At a press briefing in Granby on Monday, the parliamentary leader and male co-spokesperson of QS, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, recognized that “the challenge was significant: making a new model work with a spokesperson not elected to the ‘National Assembly “. “It is clear that we have not succeeded in meeting this challenge collectively,” he said.

Confronted with the comments of her resigned colleague, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois assured that she had not participated in or witnessed an episode where she was “scolded” for taking a position, as she reported. The party also said that funds had finally been released to help him assume his duties with his numerous trips between Témiscamingue, Montreal and Quebec.

The leader of Québec solidaire did not immediately want to make a precise diagnosis of the dysfunctions which led to this resignation. “It happened in the last hours. I don’t claim to have all the answers. » Various meetings on the subject are planned during the day and an official report will be prepared, he added.

This shock resignation of Émilise Lessard-Therrien is a hard blow for Mr. Nadeau-Dubois and his team, while the criticisms are added to those published by former MP Catherine Dorion in her essay The hotheads. In November, he still received the support of 90.1% of delegates who voted for his re-election as co-spokesperson.

A “toxic” climate?

Jonathan Gagnon, a former employee of the parliamentary wing of Québec solidaire who was responsible for organizing and coordinating Émilise Lessard-Therrien’s campaign as co-spokesperson, says Mr. Nadeau-Dubois is surrounded by a close guard mainly made up of long-time friends who have followed him since the student strike of 2012.

“No one fell behind (Monday) when they learned that Gabriel was controlling and that there was a little clique around him,” he said, asserting that people who could not attract their attention is now gradually leaving the ship.

Former QS employees who agreed to tell their story without being identified, because their new work is no longer carried out in a political framework, say they left the party because they felt they could no longer have influence on the decisions that were made and that they were ignored when they formulated ideas that went against the direction decided in restricted circles.

For her part, the member for Sherbrooke, Christine Labrie, affirmed Monday that there was not an unhealthy climate in her party. “I would not stay in a party where there is a toxic climate,” she said.

Amir Khadir proposes an idea

According to former MP and co-founder of Québec solidaire, Amir Khadir, QS is a party whose activists want to fundamentally transform Quebec. In this context, there have always been tensions between those who want to make gains in parliament versus those who would rather concentrate political efforts in the streets, in concert with social movements.

For the future, Amir Khadir suggests that QS adopt a new guideline so that only 50% of deputies now sit at the same time in the Blue Room, thus leading the other half of elected officials to return to the field to campaign with citizens .

André Frappier, an old hand from Quebec solidarity who supported Émilise Lessard-Therrien during the race, in turn affirms that the crisis shaking his party must lead to serious reflections. “We did not give her the right to defend her ideas,” he said, citing as an example that she had supported the movement to boycott advertising placements on Facebook, while her party continued to buy them even if the American giant blocks news content in the country.

“There, with Catherine Dorion, there are two women of caliber who are leaving the party for reasons of democracy. We can’t just say we’ve done everything and move on. It requires major reflection,” he said.